Comment by nicbou

I am your age. If all goes perfectly well, we're 30 years from retirement. That's a long time doing something you dislike for 40 hours per week.

Realistically, most people don't get to work on meaningful cutting-edge projects. Of those who do, few are moving the needle. Education might not be the best path to a fulfilling job either.

Personally, I find fulfilment at a much smaller scale, away from the spotlight. I write software to support another goal: simplifying local bureaucracy. It's not as glamourous as AI and rockets, but I have a grateful audience and a lot of agency over my work.

Working on my own stuff has brought back the joy of programming for me. I do a little bit of everything, and it's always in support of a greater objective. This might be something interesting to you.